Trunk-fastener.



No. 801,661. PATENTED OCT. 10, 1906. G. GOERK.

TRUNK FASTBNER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.11,1903.

INVENTOR A /Q i? fiawmlw,

UNITED STATES GUSTAV GOERK, OF NEW'ARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE R. NEU- PATENT OFFICE.

MANN HARDWARE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TRUNK-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1905.

Application filed April 11, 1903. Serial No. 152,132.

To all 10/1 0111 if may concern.-

Be it known that I, GUSTAV GOERK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented and produced a new and useful 1m provement in Trunk-Fasteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to numerals of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

The objects of this invention are to provide means for conveniently releasing or unlocking a trunk-bolt; to provide such means which shall hold the trunk-bolt released until its upper and lower members are separated by opening the trunk; to obtain an automatic disengagement of the releasing means as the trunk is opened, so that the trunk-bolt may automatically lock again when the trunk is closed; to thus avoid the danger of inadvertently closing the trunk without locking the trunk-bolts; to provide asimple construction and one which can be adapted to the pattern of trunk-bolts now in common use, and to secure other advantages and results, some of which may be referred to in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved trunk-fastener and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures, Figure 1 is a front view of my improved trunk-bolt applied to a trunk, the two members being shown in locked relation and the releasing-lever in idle position. Fig. 2 is a similar front view of the trunk-bolt with the releasing-lever thrown into position to hold the two trunk-bolt members in disengaged relation and showing in outline the position which the parts of the upper member assume upon raising the trunk-cover. Fig. 3 is a vertical section upon line a. Fig. 1; and Fig. 1 is a horizontal section upon the line of meeting of the two trunk-bolt members, as line 1 Fig. 2.

In said drawings, 1 and 2 indicate the body portion and cover of a trunk, respectively,

' and 3 and 1 indicate the lower and upper members of a trunk-bolt applied to said trunk body and cover, as is common. Said lower member 3 comprises the usual attachingplate 5, having upon its upper margin sockets 6 6 and a depressed recess T between said sockets to receive the locking-tongue of the upper member. Upon the lower part of the attaching-plate 5 is fulcrumed a hasp 8, hav ing an aperture 9 at its locking end 22 to pass over a projection upon the tongue of the upper member, said hasp being acted upon at its fulcrumed end by the usual spring (notshown) inclosed in a cover 10 to hold the hasp resiliently in upper locking position. The upper member .1 comprises a plate secured to the trunk-cover and having stamped up out of its upper portion a handle or pull 11 to be grasped in raising the trunk-cover. At the lower edge of said plates are dowel projections 12 12 to enter the sockets 6 6 of the lower member of the trunk-bolt and between said projections 12 a tongue 13, adapted to lie in the recess 7 of said lower member, said tongue at its extremity having a projection 14, beveled at its lower side and presenting at its upper side an abrupt shoulder to receive the locking-hasp, as has been common heretofore.

Coming now more particularly to those parts in which my invention inheres, a crossplate 15 is arranged transversely of the upper member 1, adjacent to the lower edge thereof, and which cross-plate is .stamped up at its middle portion, as at 16, to provide between itself and the plate of the upper member a slideway. In this slideway is arranged a releasing-lever 17, pivoted at its upper end upon a stud 18 on the inner surface of the handle or pull 11 of the upper member and being adapted to swing parallel to the trunkfront within the limits of the slideway 16 of the cross-plate. A spiral spring 19, concealed by the handle or pull 11, normally holds said releasing-lever 17 at one end of its range of movement, and a linger-piece 20, projecting from said lever through a slot 21 in the crossplate 15, enables the lever to be swung against the power of said spring. The lower end of said lever 17 projects beyond the line of meeting of the upper and lower members of the trunk-bolt and overlies upon the tongue 13, either wholly or partially between said tongue and the end 22 of the hasp 8; Said hasp end 22 is at its inner face transversely beveled outward toward the side at which the releasing-lever is normally held by spring 19, as at 23, and the lever 17 has at its extremity a forward projection 24:, oppositely beveled with respect to the hasp end 22 and adapted to lie normally in idle position at the wider end of the recess formed beneath said hasp end, as shown in Fig. 1. In this position the said hasp end is permitted to close flat against the tongue 13 of the upper part of the trunkbolt, so that the two bolt members are locked together, and when it is desired to disengage said members the releasing-lever 17 is forced, by means of its finger-piece 20, to the opposite end of its range of movement. as shown in Fig. 2. In doing this the beveled projecupon closing the trunk.

tion 24: rides upon the oppositely-beveled hasp end 22 and crowds the same outwardly sufiiciently to disengage it from the projection 1& of the tongue of the upper member. The said projection 24: when forced into position to disengage the hasp, as described, enters a recess 25 on the inner beveled face of said hasp and is thus detained in such position by the resilient pressure of the hasp. The two members of the bolt thus remain in disengaged relation and can be separated at its normal position, (shown in Fig. 1,) so as to permit an automatic locking of the bolt again By my improved construction I therefore enable the two members of a trunk-bolt to be brought into disengaged relation Without prying upon the hasp with the fingers and without tipping said hasp into permanently idle position, and there is no possibility of the trunk being closed with its bolts left inadvertently unlocked.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is l. The combination with two members one having a resilient catch and the other having a projection adapted to be engaged by said catch, of a releasing-lever pivoted upon the said member with the projection, and having abeveled end adapted to be forced beneath said resilient catch to raise the same out of locking relation, said catch having a recess to receive said releasing-lever and hold the same in releasing position.

2. The combination with two members adapted to be brought into locked relation, one of said members having a projection and the other having a spring-hasp adapted to receive said projection and providing beneath the extremity of said hasp a transverse tapering recess, of a releasing-lever mounted upon the member with the said pro ection and having an end lying in the said recess beneath the extremity of the hasp, said end being adapted to be forced toward the small end of said recess and held there by the pressure of the hasp so long as the two members are in looking relation, and a spring for returning said lever to normal idle position when the members are separated. I

3. In atrunk-bolt, the combination of upper and lower members, a hasp upon the said lower member adapted to hook over aprojection upon the upper member and having its hooking end transversely beveled, a releasing-lever pivoted upon the upper member and projecting at its end beneath said beveled end of the hasp, and means for swinging said lever.

4. In a trunk-bolt, the combination of an upper member having a tongue with a projection upon the end thereof, a lower member having a hasp adapted to hook over said projection on the tongue of the upper member, a releasing-lever pivoted upon the upper member and having a beveled extremity adapted to be forced between the said tongue and hasp to disengage the same, the hasp having a recess to retain said lever, and a spring normally holding the lever out of engagement.

5. The herein-described trunk-bolt, com prising an upper member having a tongue with a projection thereon, a lower member having a hasp adapted to hook over said projection, said hasp being transversely beveled at its extremity and having a recess at the small end of said bevel, a releasing-lever pivoted upon the upper member and having its extremity lying between said tongue and beveled end of the hasp, a spring normally holding said lever at the large end of said bevel, and means for throwing the lever into the recess at the small end of the bevel.

6. The herein-described trunk-bolt, comprising an upper member having at its lower end a cross-plate 15, a releasing-lever pivoted upon said upper member and lying between the same and its cross-plate, said cross-plate being slotted, a finger-piece upon said lever projecting through said slot, a lower bolt member having a hasp adapted to overlie the end of said releasing-lever and engage the upper member, said hasp being transversely beveled, and a spring normally holding said releasinglever idle in the recess formed by the large end of the bevel of said hasp.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing 1 have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of March, 1903.

GUSTAV GOERK.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. PELL, C. B. PITNEY. 

